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Thursday, August 19, 2010

"Human" ness

I heard about a friend of mine who got canned at work. It really made me very very sad.

And truly, anytime I hear about someone, even if I don't know them, and they are known to someone I know, it makes me sad.

I don't even need to know the circumstances. All I can think about is how the fired person's life is changed, in a bad way, forever. And for the moment, it will be one of the lowest point of their life for a little while.

This makes me feel sick.

I don't ever, ever, ever want to be in a position in which I decide someone's fate. Let's not make it too deep and go Krevorkian, but on the subject of work.

How does a firer sleep well at night? At least in the realm of work I, and people like me do, we aren't saving the world, curing cancer, or fighting the enemy. We're just regular joes in a regular job.

Yes, there are situations that I believe warrant firing: violence, threatening behavior, stealing, embezzeling, you know, those that are some of the 'deadly sins' of work 101.

BUT, overall, why do people fire people? When do you draw the line between being a good human and finding ways to solve an issue vs. throwing your hands up in the air because you don't like someone?

I am a person that believes in fixing things. That things *are* fixable in about 80% of the situations. I care for people. I empathize to the nth degree that I sometimes can't sleep at night, because I let someone else's pain - pain that I perceive - invade my brain. And I am a person that gets an empty, pit of pain in my stomach and in my heart, when I hear of someone being fired.

I won't sleep well tonight. Or for the next few days. And it will haunt me for awhile. But will the firers sleep well at night? My perception is yes. And that makes me more sad.